This follows the tyre tracks of Mercedes, Jaguar and Land Rover who have increased their coverage in the past four weeks.

A confidential dealer bulletin obtained by Drive says Volvo Cars Australia has negotiated an increase in warranty coverage from three to five years from its Swedish head office.

The dealer alert issued this week says: “Details will be forthcoming in the next few days – there are significant system changes which need to be made internally – however please trade with absolute confidence that any vehicle sold from this point will receive a factory backed five-year warranty”.

Volvo’s five-year warranty offer comes just days after Jaguar and Land Rover offered five year coverage on selected models over a limited period, however Drive understands the British brand will seamlessly switch to permanent five-year warranty coverage in Australia and is using the “limited time” promotion to stimulate sales.

Mercedes backdated its permanent five-year warranty across all models from the beginning of March, 2020.

The luxury car sector has been slow to adopt longer warranty coverage even after all Top 10 mainstream brands in Australia switched to five- or seven-year coverage after pressure from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC had put a spotlight on the entire car industry after numerous complaints about legitimate warranty claims being rejected by several brands over a number of years.

In the meantime, the Volvo dealer bulletin said it was confident the new-car market would return to normal as soon as possible after COVID-19 was under control.

“We understand our retail environment is changing in the short term,” the Volvo bulletin to dealers said.

“We take confidence watching other markets within the region resuming business as usual following (the) lockdown and we look forward to a return to normal trading as this situation subsides”

As with most car brands, Volvo is offering generous “bonuses” or discounts on new models sold this month.

April is customarily one of the slowest months of the year for new-car sales and the coronavirus restrictions have slowed showroom traffic, prompting most dealerships to adopt “contactless” sales enquiries.